That's me, without you
by Paper and the truth
Summary: The Aftermath with Jeff brings someone from his past to Nashville


Layla was in her room at Jeff's place crying. Luke was stunned and didn't really know how he ended up at the house, but there he was. Just then the front door opened and a girl around Layla's age walked in.

"Can I help you?" Luke asked and the girl jumped not realising someone was there

"I'm Tori Fordham, Jeff's sister" she explained

"Sister?" He asked a little shocked.

"My brother and I weren't exactly close. Given the age difference and the big fight we had a few years ago"

"I'm sorry." Luke said

"Luke Wheeler, right?"

"Yeah, nice to meet you" The two shook hands and she heard crying "That's Layla Grant, she and Jeff were going out" Luke explained to Tori

"Wasn't she married to Will Lexington?" Tori asked

"We were" said a voice from behind Tori and she turned and was face to face with Will "I came to check on Layla"

"She's in the bedroom" Luke explained

"A friend of Layla's?" Will asked

"No, I'm Tori, Jeff's sister" she explained

"Oh, well, nice to meet you"

"I tried to get her to eat, but nothing" Luke explained

"Let me see what I can do" Will headed to the bedroom

"I always did have a thing for blonds" Tori said looking at Will as he left the room "What a nice looking man. You're not so bad yourself" she smiled at Luke

"Ha, well thank you." Luke said flattered "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"My parents sent me down here to clean up his place and have a memorial for him…I'm assuming he hasn't pissed off all of Nashville"

"Not everyone"

"They're arranging the funeral for here and they'll come down in a few days. Maybe if you could help me go through his stuff?"

"Yeah, whatever you need" Luke said

Will walked into the room "Layla?" He asked she just kept crying and crying. She has no idea why, but she loved Jeff. Half her album was about Will and the other half was about Jeff. Will went and sat on the bed "Can I get you anything? Something to eat?"

"I'm not hungry" she finally got out

"I know, but you have to eat"

"I said I don't want anything" Layla yelled. There was a knock on the door and Tori walked in. Layla sat up and looked at the girl "Who are you?" She asked

"I feel like I should wear a name tag. I'm Jeff's sister, Tori" She explained

"Jeff had a sister?" Layla asked

"He did. Luke was going to get coffee, I was wondering if you two wanted anything

"We're fine thanks" Will said. Tori smiled and left

"Sister?" Layla was confused. Jeff never mentioned anything about having a sister, let alone one that was around her age.

Tori walked out "They said their okay" she explained

"Alright, well, I'll be back" Luke said

"Could you pick up some boxes? So I can start packing"

"Of Course" he said and ne left. Later that night Luke and Will helped Tori pack up the kitchen. Layla finally made it out of the room

"What are you doing?" Layla asked horrified

"Packing up his things" Tori explained

"You can't just do that. This was his house, he never even mentioned you. How can you just trust her?" Layla started unpacking everything and Will tried to stop her

"Layla, Layla. It's okay" Will tried to calm her down

"You're right. I mean, you were his girlfriend, you know him better than me" Tori said

"What's that supposed to mean?" Layla asked defensively

"I mean, I haven't spoken to him in over two years, you know him better than I do. I wasn't trying to be snarky" Tori left the room

"Give her a break" Luke said to Layla "She just lost her brother". Later that night Luke left and Will let Tori sleep on the couch. The next morning Tori woke up to the smell of coffee. She opened her eyes and saw Layla looking at her

"Moring" Tori said

"I'm sorry about last night" Layla said "I just-I really loved your brother" Tori picked up the coffee mug on the table

"I really liked your song, Blind." She said

"Thanks. Jeff was the one that suggested I put it on iTunes right away. The label wasn't thrilled, but of well" both girls laughed. "What was he like?" Layla asked

"Well, he was fourteen years older than I was. He was fun. He would learn the songs that I liked on guitar and whenever he would come home from College he would play and I would sing. For my Eighteenth birthday he took me to Nashville. It was great, just me and my big brother"

"What happened?" Layla couldn't even imagine Jeff this way

"I wanted to be a singer and Jeff always had my back. I would write songs. Scribble lyrics on the back of napkins. I once needed to get lyrics down and so I grabbed a permanent marker and wrote it on my jeans" both girls laughed again

"You had a permanent marker, but you didn't have a pen and paper?"

"I know" Tori laughed "After that I would always carry one around with me. When Jeff told me he was moving to Nashville, I begged him to take me and he looked at me and he said " _Nashville isn't the place for you. You may have had fun a few years ago, but you're not going to go anywhere with those songs"_ I was so angry at him. I said things to him that I wish I could take back. I realize now, he said it because of the whole Jade thing"

"He said they were engaged, she seemed to have another version of that." Layla said

"She was the one. When he was with her-I've never seen him that happy. I wish I saw him with you. He-um. He wrote me a letter recently and I wanted to say thank you"

"For what?" Layla asked

"He lost his way and you brought him back. Whatever you did he reached out to me". The girls smiled at each other and sipped their coffee


End file.
